How do you deal with a nut like North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?
First of all, Kim may not be the unhinged fringe lunatic we think him to be. He is actually an evil genius who’s gotten the attention of the United States, Japan and South Korea with his launching of ballistic missiles in the Asia Pacific region. It’s actually these three countries who have gone ballistic over the actuations of the boy-man who’s playing with deadly toys.
Kim is an international terrorist who must be taken down as threat to world peace.
Former United Nations Secretaries General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon led thousands in a peace walk in the streets of London calling for restraint on North Korea’s missile madness. Kim has been threatening to unleash ballistic missiles against US allies, Japan and South Korea, plus the American territory of Guam and as far the US West Coast.
US President Donald Trump, on the other hand, warned there is only way to deal with North Korea and that is to decapitate its lunatic leader Kim. US defense Secretary Buster Mattis said military option is on the table if Kim does not desist issuing threats and sending missiles across Japan. If so, Kim is in “deep kimchee.” As anyone who knows American slang and the connection with the spicy Korean food, that means in deep trouble.
To us, it’s less vulgar than that other American phrase connoting the icky and foul smell of barnyard droppings. I beg the reader to bear with me for talking in riddles because I know my editor won’t allow the use of foul language in her op-ed section. But here’s a clue: It’s something you don’t want to hit the fan!
While we are for restraint during this time of escalating global tension, there is a disconnect here. Mssrs. Annan and Ban should be reminded that it was during their watch as UN SecGen and their policy of restraint that Kim Jong Un and the Kim dynasty were emboldened to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. And Pyongyang now is on the threshold of developing nuclear weapons, according to international intelligence monitoring the situation in the Korean peninsula.
It seems the alternative to neutralizing “the little rocket man,” (Trump’s reference to Kim) is through the backdoor. The US and other concerned world leaders should sell the idea to the people of the North that ridding themselves of Kim might be best for everyone A reunification of North and South Korea would result in the reunion of families separated in the divided country. The best example of this constructive change is the reunification of East and West Germany. The problem, however, is that mental barrier Pyongyang imbued in the North Koreans is harder to crack than the Berlin Wall which collapsed when East Berliners scaled and demolished the Wall with sledge hammers.
When reunited, East and West Germany proved to be an even more powerful economy in Europe. An East German named Angela Dorothea Merkel nee Kasner is still in power since taking over in 2005 from former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
German technology particularly in car-making provided jobs for the East Germans. Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi are made even better with East German skill through transfer of technology from the West Germans.
President Duterte wants to disengage from the European Union because he felt slighted by a small Euro group of parliamentarians (which EU disowned.) who criticized alleged extrajudicial killings in his virulent war on drugs. Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano announced the Philippines will no longer accept loans and grants from the EU. Fine. But it seems to us such a waste that we cannot also avail of the transfer of technology from Europe. The Philippines is way behind Japan, South Korea, and even Thailand in car manufacturing.
Well-made Japanese and Korean brand cars are now popular with Americans. Toyota,Honda, Hyundai and Mazda have a big share of the US car market . Where do you think these Asian brand cars got to be where they are now? From Europe because the US fell behind. But now because of Asian and European competition—Ford, Chrysler and Chevrolet—are building better cars and making a return to the Asian market, including the Philippines.
The morale of the story is not to limit our foreign relations. There’s much more to be learned from other nations if only we open our eyes to a wider horizon.Take the Philippines’ ménage a trois with China and Russia; these two powerful countries despite diametrically opposed ideologies with the US and the EU do not sever ties with them. They know better that nations are interdependent and it’s a multilateral world out there. We have to play the global game instead of letting the big boys play us.
On a related note, the European Council which handles EU administrative matters said on Tuesday that a deal, or no deal with the UK or Brexit not happening at all in 2019 are all in the realm of the possible.